Fraisier (French strawberry cake)

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This classic French patisserie is a delicious assembly of 2 layers of genoa sponge filled with strawberries and crème mousseline (confectioner's custard with butter). The sponge is soaked in strawberry syrup and the cake is topped with a thin layer of marzipan.
September 18^th 2011176 K4.2 2 hours 45 min.

Foie gras fingers

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An elegant canapé which consists of a crisp layer of shortcrust pastry topped with a layer of foie gras.
December 21^th 2011136 K4.6 2 hours 50 min.

Ali Baba bread

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This bread is so-called because its magical sesame flavour is non-negotiable! The triple dose comes from tahini (sesame paste), sesame oil added to the dough before kneading, and toasted sesame seeds both in the dough and on top of the loaves. The texture is soft, rather like ciabatta, but with a...
December 10^th 201747 K5 4 hours 25 min.

Crêpes Suzette

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Crêpes Suzette are pancakes filled with orange-flavoured butter (butter and sugar mixed with Grand Marnier), caramelized in a pan and soaked in orange-flavoured syrup. This is an modified version of the recipe invented by Auguste Escoffier.
February 28^th 2013148 K4.1 50 min.

Key Lime Pie for Jeremy

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Key Lime Pie is a famous speciality from the Keys region of southern Florida. This delicious tart is usually made with Key limes - a special variety. But in this simplified version, normal limes will work perfectly well.
September 30^th 201294 K 13.8 3 hours 50 min.

How to poach peaches

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To poach peaches, we begin rather like for tomatoes. To peel them, we boil them for a few seconds, then plunge them into cold water. Once the skin has been removed, they are poached gently in a light syrup.
September 6^th 2012229 K3 1 hour 50 min.

Pistachio shortbread biscuits

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These melt-in-the-mouth biscuits are "double pistachio", as they contain both pistachio paste and toasted chopped pistachios.
April 19^th 2012154 K 54.6 2 hours 60 min.

Aligot

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Aligot is a traditional family dish from the Auvergne mountains in France. It is basically a potato purée enriched with cheese and stirred for a long time.
April 5^th 2012118 K4.2 1 hour 20 min.

Checkerboard biscuits

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These biscuits are half and half chocolate and almond in a checkerboard pattern, both in colour and flavour.
March 8^th 2012141 K5 4 hours 25 min.

Chocolate and matcha tea biscuits

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Little spiral biscuits flavoured with chocolate and matcha green tea.
February 19^th 2012110 K4 3 hours

Tomato and cream cheese terrine

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Tomatoes marinated in olive oil and lime, then arranged in alternating layers with cream cheese: one layer with herbs and the other with walnuts.
October 30^th 2011162 K5 6 hours 15 min.

Avocado and smoked salmon terrine

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In this colourful terrine, layers of avocado alternate with smoked salmon and diced tomato in balsamic vinegar.
April 10^th 2011180 K5 4 hours 7 min.

Ciabatta

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Ciabatta is a small, very soft Italian bread. The name means "slipper". It normally takes a long time to prepare as a special leaven called "biga" is used, but this simplified version is quicker and just as good.
October 24^th 2017289 K3.8 3 hours 25 min.

Nantes Tourton

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The "tourton Nantais" is a sweet loaf from Nantes, somewhere between bread and brioche, but without egg and only a small amount of butter.
September 12^th 201881 K4.3 7 hours 35 min.

Strawberry Charlotte

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This is a faily quick charlotte recipe. It begins, as usual, by soaking finger biscuits in syrup, in this case flavoured with lime. The charlotte is then assembled with alternate layers of Chantilly (whipped cream) and strawberries.
June 17^th 2012144 K5 3 hours 9 min.

Ocean bread

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The idea for this bread was inspired by an amusing coincidence: the proportion of salt needed for good bread is 35 g of salt per litre of water, which just happens to be the exact concentration of salt in the Atlantic Ocean. So it's possible to make bread using sea water to provide all the salt...
October 24^th 2017174 K 63.8 5 hours 7 min.

Paté en croute (terrine in a pie crust)

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The French classic "Paté en croute" is a terrine of different meats layered and baked in a pie crust. There are many recipes which vary the kind of meat and the seasonings. This is my version with pork, veal and chicken, which is not too difficult, though it does entail quite a lot of work.
September 7^th 2018216 K 134.2 6 hours 50 min.

Gnocchi alla romana

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Gnocchi are a type of pasta made with flour and potatoes or, as here, semolina. For this recipe, the gnocchi are made quite large and cooked "au gratin", topped with grated cheese.
July 29^th 202049 K 2 hours 60 min.

Clear strawberry juice

(Found inStages)
In French this is called a "clarification". The method for making a clear strawberry juice is simple, with little added sugar. The delicious juice obtained can be used in lots of recipes: mousse, cream, jelly, etc.
July 25^th 202135 K5 60 min.

X-Files cookies

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These cookies made with lime and almonds are a sure-fire hit with children. They enjoy the amusing shape, of course, but also the delicious flavour.
May 27^th 2012110 K4.1 3 hours 35 min.

Films and papers in the kitchen

It's now fairly easy to find a range of papers and plastic films that are invaluable, and sometimes indispensable, kitchen aids. Here's a quick overview of the main products available, and what you can and can't do with them.
August 29^th 2023578 K 93.6

Soured dough

Underneath this strange name lies a baking secret: when you want to give a bread or pastry dough (without leaven, but with yeast) a certain percentage of fermented dough must be added, i.e. the same dough made the day before, and left to ferment overnight in the refrigerator.
August 25^th 2024147 K 24.1

Using stretch food film effectively

Maybe you use food film in your own kitchen. You know, the very thin, clear plastic stuff that you can stretch, often used to cover food and protect it from the air. It’s become so widely used that it’s now an essential item for pros. They even have a verb for it in French: “filmer”: to...
May 12^th 201820 K 14.9

The window-pane test in bread-making

The home bread-makers often ask themselves “Have I kneaded my dough long enough?” . A good question, as dough that is insufficiently kneaded will not rise properly or will fall flat when the top is slashed, which is very frustrating. To know when the dough is ready, one can rely on the length...
June 16^th 202190 K 23.9

Baking cakes

Where we see that to put a cake in the oven, once the dough is finished and in its mould, there is no hurry and that the cold is your friend.
June 28^th 201941 K4.1

Baking a cake at the right time

When you make a cake, which most likely contains butter, a cake for example, chances are that as soon as the batter is finished, you put it in the pan and bake it immediately. Classic, everyone does it like that, and then if, on top of that, you have a few kids around you who are getting...
April 18^th 202017 K4.5

The skin side of the fish first?

When it comes to cooking fresh fish, if it's filleted with its skin on and you're planning to pan-fry it in a little olive oil, for example, you might ask yourself the following question: Which side, skin or flesh, should come into contact with the pan first?
February 13^th 202122 K4.4